Lithography & bonding: More than Moore devices are boosting the equipment industry

All equipment markets are growing to reach US$2.4 billion in 2026, driven by lithography and bonding processes.

“Without a doubt, 2020 was a difficult year for device manufacturers.” asserts Taguhi Yeghoyan, PhD., Technology & Market Analyst, Semiconductor Manufacturing at Yole Intelligence, part of Yole Group. She adds: “Chip demand soared mainly in the consumer market due to lockdowns and working from home. Despite the cash injection, manufacturers could not keep up with increased demand. Massive fab expansions and equipment orders followed.”

Production was held up worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns and climate and accident-related issues. All these aspects generated chip shortages across all markets. Governments and the public realized the semiconductor industry’s importance in everyday life and national sovereignty. As such, private and public manufacturing giants rushed to increase production volume, announcing fab expansion or new locations, while governments increased industry incentives worldwide.

In this context, Yole investigates disruptive patterning and bonding technologies and related markets in depth, to point out the latest innovations and underline the business opportunities.

Released today, the Lithography and Bonding equipment for More than Moore 2021 report provides an overview of photolithography and permanent as well as temporary bonding equipment for MtM device manufacturing and associated state-of-the-art and emerging processes. It also proposes an in-depth understanding of the lithography and bonding ecosystem. Including market trends and forecasts, supply chain, technology trends, technical insights and analysis, take away and outlook, this study also delivers an in-depth understanding of the ecosystem and main players’ strategies.

What are the economic and technological challenges of the lithography and bonding industry? What are the key drivers? Who are the equipment manufacturers to watch, and what innovative technologies are they working on?

Yole presents today its vision of the lithography and bonding equipment industry for MtM devices.

As analyzed by Yole’s team in the new Lithography and Bonding equipment for More than Moore 2021 report, manufacturers’ cash injection resulted in soaring fab equipment orders. Thus, 2020 was the best year ever for many HVM equipment providers. But they had difficulties to keep up with equipment production either. Assembly and delivery time increased from several months to a year. As such, equipment orders have spilled over into 2021 and 2022. This should sustain equipment vendors’ revenue in following years.
The lithography and bonding equipment market dedicated to MtM device manufacturing totaled US$1.38 billion in 2020. It is highly fragmented. Some players specialize in tools for given applications, like fan-out panel level packaging or steppers dedicated to small compound semiconductor wafers. Other players, make their tools more flexible, such as in maskless lithography or hybrid bonding tools dedicated to W2W and D2W processes.
According to Taguhi Yeghoyan: “Photolithography tool sales for MtM were US$1 billion in 2020. They are driven by CIS applications at 30% of the market, followed by AP, power, RF and MEMS. Projection lithography tools account for 87% of the market, while traditional mask aligners still account for 12% of the market.”
Currently, Canon is the MtM photolithography instrument sales leader with 34% market share, offering a wide variety of tools However, ASML is closing in on Canon, with 21% share, and looks attentively at MtM manufacturing trends. AP photolithography tool sales are driven by SMEE, present in the domestic Chinese market. Finally, SÜSS MicroTec remains the leader of mask aligner sales. The permanent bonding market was worth US$259 million in 2020 with EVG being an undisputable leader, owning 75% of the market and selling mostly hybrid, fusion as well as SAB tools. The temporary bonding equipment market was worth $106M in 2020 and is driven by AP. This market is fragmented between EVG, TAZMO, SÜSS MicroTec and TEL.
After a very good 2020 year for HVM equipment vendors, a positive outlook is likely in coming years. The MtM lithography, permanent and temporary bonding equipment markets are expected to grow further. Their CAGR from 2020 to 2025 are 9%, 13% and 7% respectively. Together, these markets can be worth US$2.4 billion in 2026.